Went to the river again tonight and left the spinning rod at home. I tried the frog for a while -- no luck. I tried the baby muskrat for a while -- no luck (but I will definitely give it some more time in the water). Tied on the white/red pike diver and soon found some hungry fish. The first pike (~26") blasted the fly three times in five casts and then cut my 30# leader like it was nothing. A few seconds later my fly bobbed to the surface so I tied it back on and resumed casting . About 20' up the river I had a baby pike doing somersaults after the fly but didn't hook up. It started getting late so I headed back towards the launch site and soon had another devastating topwater attack, this time from a fat little largemouth (~2#) that I actually landed and released. When I got back to the area where I lost the pike on Sunday I started casting and had another pike explode on the fly. I got it close enough for photos before it cut the knot and swam off with my fly. This time the fly didn't float back up . Photos are on my 35mm so I'll post them when I get the film developed. I think that pike was the same one I caught on the spinning rod on Sunday right before I hooked the one that stole my firetiger diver. It was right next to the same pile of sticks, was the same size (~28") and had a freshly torn lip in the same place as the one I hooked Sunday.

I think I have a new favorite fly . Gotta throw one together for tomorrow!